ArticlePloS one2020
Mask or no mask for COVID-19: A public health and market study.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 117 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
117 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 324 citations in OpenAlex.
- Data-driven strategies for model-informed decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2026Pooled it
- Associations Between Wearing Masks and Respiratory Viral Infections: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines: a systematic review.Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2021Pooled it
- Community practice of using face masks for the prevention of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.PloS one · 2021Trial
- Rapid Epidemiological Data Collection on Social Media for COVID-19: Comparative Study Between Online Surveys and Conventional Cohorts.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Observational
- Identifying the effectiveness of face mask in a large population with a network-based fluid model.PloS one · 2025Article
- SyntheticRSC advances · 2024Review
- A Novel Sensible Smart Mask Using Micro Thermal-Electric Energy Conversion Elements.Micromachines · 2024Article
- The COVID-19 pandemic and changes in social behavior: Protective face masks reduce deliberate social distancing preferences while leaving automatic avoidance behavior unaffected.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2024Article
- Assessment of Factories on Adherence to COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures: A Case Study of Wakiso, Mukono, Buikwe, and Jinja Districts, Uganda.Journal of tropical medicine · 2024Article
- Impact of Covid -19 incidence rate and government-initiated risk communication measures on individual's NPI practices.PloS one · 2024Article
- The effects of face masks on emotional appraisal ability of students with autism spectrum disorder.International journal of developmental disabilities · 2024Article
- Effect of COVID 19 pandemic on the neurology department hospitalization with analysis of the neurological complications secondary to COVID 19 and vaccination against COVID 19.SAGE open medicine · 2024Article
- Quality Control Circle Practices to Improve Mask-Wearing Compliance by Patients Diagnosed with Tuberculosis During External Examinations.Patient preference and adherence · 2024Article
- Understanding lifetime and dispersion of cough-emitted droplets in air.Indoor + built environment : the journal of the International Society of the Built Environment · 2023Article
- Effects of public-health measures for zeroing out different SARS-CoV-2 variants.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Real-time forecasting of COVID-19 spread according to protective behavior and vaccination: autoregressive integrated moving average models.BMC public health · 2023Article
- FMDNet: An Efficient System for Face Mask Detection Based on Lightweight Model during COVID-19 Pandemic in Public Areas.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Correlations of demographic factors and hygiene factors with face mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggestion for future research: A cross-sectional study of adults in Malaysia.Journal of public health research · 2023Article
- Transmission and infection risk of COVID-19 when people coughing in an elevator.Building and environment · 2023Article
57 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Efficient strategies to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are peremptory to relieve the negatively impacted public health and global economy, with the full scope yet to unfold. In the absence of highly effective drugs, vaccines, and abundant medical resources, many measures are used to manage the infection rate and avoid exhausting limited hospital resources. Wearing masks is among the non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) measures that could be effectively implemented at a minimum cost and without dramatically disrupting social practices. The mask-wearing guidelines vary significantly across countries. Regardless of the debates in the medical community and the global mask production shortage, more countries and regions are moving forward with recommendations or mandates to wear masks in public. Our study combines mathematical modeling and existing scientific evidence to evaluate the potential impact of the utilization of normal medical masks in public to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. We consider three key factors that contribute to the effectiveness of wearing a quality mask in reducing the transmission risk, including the mask aerosol reduction rate, mask population coverage, and mask availability. We first simulate the impact of these three factors on the virus reproduction number and infection attack rate in a general population. Using the intervened viral transmission route by wearing a mask, we further model the impact of mask-wearing on the epidemic curve with increasing mask awareness and availability. Our study indicates that wearing a face mask can be effectively combined with social distancing to flatten the epidemic curve. Wearing a mask presents a rational way to implement as an NPI to combat COVID-19. We recognize our study provides a projection based only on currently available data and estimates potential probabilities. As such, our model warrants further validation studies.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.